Monday, July 9, 2012

Fifty Bucks

It's been a busy week and I figure if I don't post now, I never will. I'm sitting on the porch-of-heaven just a tad past dusk. My across the street neighbor and I call my porch our summer house. How I love this porch.

The tall one who I'm now calling "super-size" because I swear, he looks taller, came home from camp over night and a second x-ray and opinion said no breaks and he could get off the crutches and take it slow with an elastic ankle brace -- may the basketball court not be too tempting.

He was at his dads for the weekend, but I took him to dinner Saturday night, he said he was craving fish and chips and as that's a new food in a very limited repertoire, fried as it may be, I was happy to oblige as fried fish could be the gateway fish to grilled fish, baked fish, broiled fish, maybe even a shrimp or scallop. It'd been a rough week for me with fatigue and with food, eating was a chore and I wasn't eating enough which makes me feel worse, but again, had the lobster craving. All of my nauseous pregnancies came with their own food cravings, oranges, ice cream, artichokes, chemo desires lobster of all odd things, lobster, pasta and lemon sorbet. I googled "best fish and chips in Providence" and came up with Carrie's in North Providence. While I believe lobster should be eaten outside, I was happy to make an exception, and was almost salivating by the time we got there. The fish and chips were reasonably priced as Carries is a neighborhood place, not a fancy restaurant. Their claim to fame, apparently, is lobster and their quirk is that they only serve 3-pound lobsters. Everyone in the place was eating these gigantic lobsters, there was no turning back and I ordered one even though there was no price on the menu, but as I was ordering I asked and almost fell out of my seat when they said $50. Yikes! Yet everyone in there was eating these $50 crustaceans, and these folks weren't the 1%, I guarantee you.

Fuck it, I ordered it. G asked if I'd ever ordered anything that cost that much before and I said I'd never ordered anything over $30 or all that close to that. Life is short, you only get one, and my god that lobster was good. I got the baked stuffed, and could only eat about 2/3 of the tail and some of the stuffing which had whole scallops in it, and took the rest home, so when I got hungry later I ate more lobster and the next day had even more for lunch. Cold, yummy lobster. No regrets, at least until the credit card bill comes and maybe not even then.

I had a lovely time with my son who is loving camp, thrilled to be off the crutches and while his father was supposed to drive him back, he asked if I would do it instead because there were some counselors he wanted me to meet. I hesitated due to lack of energy, but nothing could mean more to me than his request. Teenagers are supposed to be embarrassed of their parents, I sure was, and my kid's have just cause, bald-mama thing and all. We had a super nice drive down to camp and I got to meet and thank the nurses that took such good care of him and the CIT director says he's doing great. Camp is his idea of heaven and I'm glad he'll have such happy memories. I'm also glad I don't have to feed him or argue about laundry for two more weeks. Tomorrow I'm back to chemo, although just the one drug this time which won't be as bad. If all goes well and I don't miss another week, I'm doing the five week countdown at the end of which will surely be a happy dance. Day after tomorrow, I meet with the radiologist, I'm still hoping to avoid radiation.

About Me

Kim Turner Clark is 48 years old and lives in Providence Rhode Island with her two sweetie boys and two pesty cats.
Kim is the fouder of LuckyBird Studio which produces handmade jewelry and accessories which combine craftsmanship with her love of color and shape.
Kim is also the founder of Rhody Craft, which sells a carefully curated, eclectic selection of locally handmade art and craft. Additionally, Rhody Craft produces the twice-yearly Craftopia {a super-duper day of indie art and craft} which celebrates all things local, unique and handmade.
Kim was two weeks away from getting divorced and starting a shiny new life when she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, it was not what she’d planned, and she would have much preferred to skip the entire experience. Not having a choice in the matter, however, she figured starting a blog was the best way to keep her community informed and to prevent her head from exploding.